After his friend Riley Counahan unexpectedly died from epilepsy in2018, Justin Flamm felt motivated to raise awareness about the disease.He organized a charity dodgeball tournament called Dodge for a Cause to raise money for the Epilepsy Association and to celebrate his friend’s life. For his contribution, the association rewarded Flamm with the Youth Humanitarian of the Year.
Riley passed away really out of the blue from epilepsy, and everyone at school was just heartbroken. We’re a small school, there’s more than 400 kids so everyone knows each other. It was a very strange thing to see a high schooler pass away, especially out of the blue.
I had been working with my cousin who owns a company called Champions For Charity, which makes sports tournaments that raise money for charities.I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to commemorate Riley and support people like him, and families like his. I figured dodgeball — every kid loves playing dodgeball.
I’ve always liked having a positive way to remember someone. For me, funerals are so sad.
That was the most nervous I’ve ever been, just trying to get everything figured out. I went in to set up early. There were six different games going on at once, and each team had five to 10 kids, so I’m trying to have each team go to their court and play at the right time. It was really, really exciting and intense.
We ended up having just about 100 participants and raised about $5,000 for the Epilepsy Association. Just knowing that that much money went to the Epilepsy Association from such a small thing was amazing.
Riley’s a really fun kid, so I think his friends enjoyed being able to see all these people thinking about Riley while also having fun. Riley’s parents and his brother were so happy that he could be remembered this way. — as told to Kelcey Norris
Private Schools: What It Feels Like To Organize A Charity Dodgeball Tournament
University School senior Justin Flamm used a charity dodgeball event to honor a classmate who died unexpectedly.
